Are India and Pakistan "just pawns on a grand chessboard"?

Military tensions in South Asia in 2025 reflect the US and China's support for opposing sides.

As India has grown closer to the United States, it has reduced its purchases of Russian weapons by more than 50 percent since 2010 and is focusing on American, French, and Israeli systems.

Pakistan, meanwhile, has stepped up military cooperation with China - about 80 percent of the country's military equipment comes from China, including J-10C fighter jets and long-range missiles. The country is currently doubling its stock of Chinese systems.

The Pakistan Air Force shot down Indian fighter jets overnight with Chinese-made PL-15E air-to-air missiles. Some of the missiles fell in Hoshiarpur and Punjab. The export variant of the PL-15 missile is used by Pakistan and has a range of about 145 km.

Also, a Rafale fighter jet was shot down 75 km from the Indian border, a Mirage-2000 aircraft was shot down in the Wuyan area, 65 km inland, and an SU-30 aircraft was shot down in the Ahnur area, 15 km inland.

In addition, Pakistan also used Chinese PL-15 air-to-air missiles, HQ-9s anti-aircraft missile systems, J10C and JF17 fighter jets.